Technical Field
This disclosure is generally related to containers, and more particularly, to containers and related methods for packaging fragile contents, such as, for example, flowers, for transport.
Description of the Related Art
In commercial and private settings, users have long benefited from containers, such as corrugated paperboard containers, when shipping goods, gifts, and other items. Furthermore, due to the increasingly interstate and global nature of relationships and businesses, individuals and businesses often communicate through remote gestures and distant dealings, such as shipping goods and/or gifts. Frequently, these items are fragile, as is the case when shipping flowers and breakables. Consequently, senders expend time, money and additional material to support and secure contents of the container for transport. Accordingly, existing containers include those designed to reduce assembly time and material while better securing the contents.
Some solutions include corrugated containers having a divider that provides some support of the contents. However, even when using these corrugated containers, the contents continue to experience some movement during transport. Consequently, other solutions include ties inserted through tie holes and engaging a portion of the contents as well as being tied to a portion of one of the box sides, further securing the contents in place. This tying process is time-consuming, cumbersome, and costly for individuals and businesses that ship many items, especially fragile items, such as flowers, on a regular basis. For such businesses, saving even a few seconds when assembling each container amounts to a sizeable time and cost savings over a longer duration such as a day, a week or a month.
Additionally, ties such as strings, ribbons, or wires used to secure contents such as flowers also make opening conventional containers difficult. Particularly, when the contents are fragile, recipients of conventional containers often spend excess time and effort to untie the contents from the container to prevent damaging the contents. Furthermore, tying fragile and delicate contents such as flowers introduces additional opportunity for damaging the contents during transport.
Examples of corrugated containers for shipping fragile items such as flowers using wires or ties are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,219,797, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Examples of corrugated containers for shipping fragile items such as flowers in a tieless manner are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,584,855, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.